For many years, truck drivers, plant operation employees, sales representatives and others have been asked to gather a sample of dry bulk or other products from a trailer that is being unloaded. Some facilities have an unloading pipe to which a pipe nipple is welded. The pipe nipple has a valve around which a plastic bag can be wrapped to capture a sample of the dry bulk. While the trailer is being unloaded, the valve is carefully opened to fill the bag with a sample of the dry bulk product. Other facilities have no such pipe nipple, in which case the individual tasked with sampling the dry bulk has to climb on top of the trailer to retrieve a sample. Some operators stand precariously on a pallet lifted up by a forklift (or in the bucket of a front-end loader or of a Bobcat® utility vehicle). The person tasked with retrieving the sample is then raised to a height that enables that person to access the top hatch of the trailer. The raised person must then reach over and open the hatch, and then maintain his balance while retrieving a sample of the dry bulk using a shovel or other tool or implement.
This traditional technique for retrieving a sample of dry bulk from the top hatch of a trailer has led to a number of injuries and safety incidents. Accordingly, a safer way of sampling dry bulk product from a trailer remains highly desirable.
Thus, a main aspect of the present invention is a sampling device having a valve body that includes an inlet for connecting to an unloading pipe of a container containing dry bulk product, the inlet being shaped to receive a flow of dry bulk product from the container. The valve body also includes a first outlet which, when opened, discharges the dry bulk product that enters the valve body through the inlet. The valve body further includes a second outlet which, when opened, discharges a sample of the dry bulk product, the second outlet having a cross-sectional area that is smaller than a cross-sectional area of the first outlet.
Another aspect of the present invention is a truck for transporting dry bulk product. The truck has a container for containing dry bulk product, the container having unloading pipe which can be opened to discharge the dry bulk product from the container, a pneumatic system for pressurizing the container to force the dry bulk product through the unloading pipe, and a sampling device connected to the unloading pipe of the container for sampling dry bulk product from the container. The sampling device includes an inlet for connecting to the unloading pipe of the container, a first outlet which, when opened, discharges the dry bulk product that enters the valve body through the inlet, and a second outlet which, when opened, discharges a sample of the dry bulk product, the second outlet having a cross-sectional area that is smaller than a cross-sectional area of the first outlet.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is a method of sampling dry bulk product. The method entails connecting a sampling device to an unloading pipe of a container containing the dry bulk product, the sampling device having an inlet, a first outlet and a second outlet, wherein a cross-sectional area of the second outlet is smaller than a cross-sectional area of the first outlet, ascertaining that a lid is clamped to a first outlet of the sampling device, and opening a valve to draw off a sample of the dry bulk product through the second outlet of the sampling device.
The details and particulars of these aspects of the invention will now be described below, by way of example, with reference to the attached drawings.
It will be noted that throughout the appended drawings, like features are identified by like reference numerals.